248 HOMER: THE ODYSSEY [562-74] 'You think we are headed home, our own dear land? BOOK ELEVEN Well, Circe sets us a rather different course . 620 down to the House of Death and the awesome one, Persephone, there to consult the ghost of Tiresias, seer of Thebes.' So I said, and it broke my shipmates' hearts. They sank down on the ground, moaning, tore their hair. But it gained us nothing-what good can come of grtef? Back to the swift ship at the water's edge we went, our spirits deep in anguish. faces wet with tears. But Circe got to the dark hull before us, tethered a ram and black ewe dose by- slipping past unseen. Who can glimpse a god 630 who wants to be invisible gliding here and therer The I<ingdon1 of the Dead "Now down we came to the ship at the water's edge, we hauled and launched her into the sunlit breakers first, stepped the mast in the black craft and set our sail and loaded the sheep aboard, the ram and ewe, then we ourselves embarked, streaming tears, our hearts weighed down with anguish ... But Circe the awesome nymph with lovely braids who speaks with human voice, sent us a hardy shipmate, yes, a fresh following wind ruffling up in our wake, bellying out our sail to drtve our blue prow on as we, 10 securing the running gear from stem to stern, sat back while the wind and helmsman kept her true on course. The sail stretched taut as she cut the sea all day and the sun sank and the roads of the world grew dark. 249 250 HOMER: THE ODYSSEY [13-45/ [45-761 BOO K 11: TH E KINGD O M OF THE D EAD 251 And she made the outer limits. the Ocean ruver's bounds and burn them both, and then say prayers to the gods. where Cimmerian people have their homes-their realm and city to the almighty god of death and dread Persephone. shrouded in mist and cloud. The eye of the Sun can never But I, the sharp sword drawn from beside my hip, flash his rays through the dark and bring them light, sat down on alert there and never let the ghosts not when he climbs the starry skies or when he wheels of the shambling, shiftless dead come near that blood back down from the heights to touch the earth once more­ 20 till I had questioned Tiresias myself. an endless, deadly night overhangs those wretched men. But first There, gaining that point, we beached our craft the ghost of Elpenor, my companion, came toward me. and herding out the sheep, we picked our way He'd not been buried under the wide ways of earth, by the Ocean's banks until we gained the place not yet, we'd left his body in Circe's house, that Circe made our goal. unwept, unburied-this other labor pressed us. 60 Here at the spot But I wept to see him now, pity touched my heart Perimedes and Eurylochus held the victims fast, and I called out a winged word to him there: 'Elpenor, and I. drawing my sharp sword from beside my hip, how did you travel down to the world of darkness? dug a trench of about a forearm's depth and length Faster on foot, I see, than I in my black ship.' and around it poured libations out to all the dead, first with milk and honey, and then with mellow wine, 30 My comrade groaned as he offered me an answer: then water third and last, and sprinkled glistening barley 'Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, old campaigner. over it all, and time and again I vowed to all the dead, the doom of an angry god, and god knows how much wine­ to the drifting, listless spirits of their ghosts. they were my ruin, captain .. I'd bedded down that once I returned to Ithaca I would slaughter on the roof of Circe's house but never thought a barren heifer in my halls, the best I had, to climb back down again by the long ladder- 70 and load a pyre with treasures-and to Tiresias. headfirst from the roof I plunged, my neck snapped alone, apart, I would offer a sleek black ram. from the backbone. my soul flew down to Death. Now, the pride of all my herds. And once my vows I beg you by those you left behind, so far from here, and prayers had invoked the nations of the dead, your wife, your father who bred and reared you as a boy, I took the victims, over the trench I cut their throats 40 and Telemachus, left at home in your halls, your only son. and the dark blood flowed in-and up out of Erebus they came, Well I know when you leave this lodging of the dead flocking toward me now, the ghosts of the dead and gone ... that you and your ship will put ashore again Brides and unwed youths and old men who had suffered much at the island of Aeaea-then and there, and girls with their tender hearts freshly scarred by sorrow my lord, remember me, I beg you! Don't sail off and great armies of battle dead, stabbed by bronze spears, and desert me, left behind unwept, unburied, don't, 80 men of war still wrapped in bloody armor- thousands or my curse may draw god's fury on your head. swarming around the trench from every side- No, bum me in full armor, all my harness, unearthly cries-blanching terror gripped me! heap my mound by the churning gray surf- I ordered the men at once to flay the sheep a man whose luck ran out- that lay before us, killed by my ruthless blade, 50 so even men to come will learn my story. 252 HOMER : THE ODY SSEY {77-105] [105-37] BOOK ll: THE KINGDOM OF THE DEAD 253 Perform my rites, and plant on my tomb that oar to curb their wild desire and curb your own, what's more, I swung with mates when I rowed among the living.' from the day your good trim vessel first puts in 120 at Thrinacia Island, flees the cruel blue sea. 'All this, my unlucky friend,' I reassured him, There you will find them grazing, 'I will do for you. I won't forget a thing.' herds and fat flocks, the cattle of Hellos, So we sat god of the sun who sees all, hears all things. and faced each other, trading our bleak parting words, 90 Leave the beasts unharmed, your mind set on home, I on my side, holding my sword above the blood, and you all may still reach Ithaca-bent with hardship, he across from me there, my comrade's phantom true-but harm them in any way, and I can see it now: dragging out his story. your ship destroyed, your men destroyed as well. But look, the ghost And even if you escape, you'll come home late of my mother camel My mother, dead and gone now ... and come a broken man-all shipmates lost, 130 Anticleia--daughter of that great heart Autolycus­ alone in a stranger's ship- whom I had left alive when I sailed for sacred Troy. and you will find a world of pain at home, I broke into tears to see her here, but filled with pity, crude, arrogant men devouring all your goods, even throbbing with grief, I would not let her ghost courting your noble wife, offering gilts to win her. approach the blood till I had questioned Tiresias myself. No doubt you will pay them back in blood when you come home! But once you have killed those suitors in your halls- At last he came. The shade of the famous Theban prophet, 100 by stealth or in open fight with slashing bronze- holding a golden scepter, knew me at once and hailed me: go forth once more, you must ... 'Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, master of exploits, carry your well-planed oar until you come man of pain, what now, what brings you here, to a race of people who know nothing of the sea, 140 forsaking the light of day whose food.is never seasoned with salt strangers all to see this joyless kingdom of the dead? to ships with their crimson prows and long slim oars, Stand back from the trench-put up your sharp sword Wings that make ships fly. And here is your sign­ so I can drink the blood and tell you all the truth.' unmistakable, dear, so clear you cannot miss it: When another traveler falls in with you and calls Moving back I thrust my silver-studded sword that weight across your shoulder a fan to winnow grain, deep in its sheath, and once he had drunk the dark blood then plant your bladed, balanced oar in the earth the words came ringing from the prophet in his power: 110 and sacrifice fine beasts to the lord god of the sea, 'A sweet smooth journey home, renowned Odysseus, Poseidon-a ram, a bull and a ramping wild boar­ that is what you seek then journey home and render noble offerings up 150 but a god will make it hard for you-I know- to the deathless gods who rule the vaulting skies, you will never escape the one who shakes the earth, to all the gods in order.